According to one embodiment, a number of trace metal segments or conductors are patterned onto a top surface of a substrate suitable for receiving and housing a semiconductor die. In one embodiment, an insulator layer covers the trace metal segments and separates them from a high permeability core which is mounted on top of the insulator layer. The insulator layer can comprise, for example, solder mask while the high permeability core can comprise, for example, a ferrite rod. In one embodiment, a number of bonding wires are passed over the high permeability core and make connections to respective trace metal segments under the core so as to create an inductor winding around the core. The terminals of the inductor so formed can be connected to a substrate bond pad and/or to a semiconductor die bond pad.
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1. A structure comprising:
a substrate having a top surface for receiving a semiconductor die; a core of an inductor on said top surface of said substrate; a bonding wire passing over said core on said top surface of said substrate, said bonding wire being connected to a conductor situated under said core, said bonding wire and said conductor together forming one turn of an inductor winding around said core of said inductor.
7. A structure comprising:
a substrate having a top surface for receiving a semiconductor die; a plurality of conductors patterned onto said substrate; an insulator layer over said plurality of conductors; a core situated over said insulator layer; a plurality of bonding wires over said core, at least one of said plurality of bonding wires connecting a first conductor in said plurality of conductors to a second conductor in said plurality of conductors so as to form an inductor winding around said core.
22. A structure comprising:
a substrate having a top surface for receiving a semiconductor die; a plurality of conductors patterned onto said substrate; an insulator layer over said plurality of conductors; a core situated over said insulator layer; a plurality of bonding wires over said core, at least one of said plurality of bonding wires connecting a first conductor in said plurality of conductors to a second conductor in said plurality of conductors so as to form an inductor winding around said core, said inductor winding having a terminal; said terminal of said inductor winding being coupled to a semiconductor die bond pad.
14. A structure comprising:
a semiconductor die attached to a top surface of a substrate; a plurality of conductors patterned onto said substrate adjacent to said semiconductor die; an insulator layer over said plurality of conductors; a core situated over said insulator layer; a plurality of bonding wires around said core, at least one of said plurality of bonding wires connecting a first conductor in said plurality of conductors to a second conductor in said plurality of conductors so as to form an inductor winding around said core; a first terminal of said inductor winding being coupled to a first semiconductor die bond pad of said semiconductor die.
20. A structure comprising:
a substrate having a top surface for receiving a semiconductor die; a plurality of conductors patterned onto said substrate; an insulator layer over said plurality of conductors; a core situated over said insulator layer; a plurality of bonding wires over said core, at least one of said plurality of bonding wires connecting a first conductor in said plurality of conductors to a second conductor in said plurality of conductors so as to form an inductor winding around said core, said inductor winding having a first terminal and a second terminal; said first terminal of said inductor winding being a first substrate bond pad coupled to one of said plurality of bonding wires and said second terminal of said inductor winding being a second substrate bond pad coupled to one of said plurality of conductors.
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of inductor fabrication. More specifically, the present invention is in the field of inductor fabrication on a package substrate of a semiconductor chip.
2. Background Art
The requirement of smaller, more complex, and faster devices operating at high frequencies, such as wireless communications devices and Bluetooth RF transceivers, has also resulted in an increased demand for small size inductors with high inductance. These small wireless communication devices and Bluetooth RF transceivers require small size inductors with high inductance for use in resonator circuits, filters, and switch regulators. For example, highly efficient switch regulators that need to work in the high KHz to low MHz range require inductors in a range of 100.0 nano henries ("nH") to 10.0 micro henries ("μH"). Also, the highly efficient switch regulators require inductors to have an inductance value with a tolerance of +/-10%.
One attempt to satisfy the demand for the small size inductors with a high inductance discussed above has been to integrate the inductor on a substrate that houses a chip. Inductors with an inductance on the order of 1.0 to 3.0 nH, and even as high as 10.0 nH can be integrated on a substrate that houses a chip. However, inductors with an inductance in the range of 100.0 nano henries ("nH") to 10.0 micro henries ("μH") discussed above are too large to be integrated on a substrate that also houses a chip.
Another attempt to satisfy the demand for inductors with a small size and high inductance discussed above has been to use discrete inductors. However, discrete inductors suffer from various disadvantages not shared by inductors that are integrated on a substrate the houses a chip. For example, the discrete inductor requires the assembly of at least two components, i.e. the chip itself and the discrete inductor. The required assembly of two or more components introduces corresponding reliability issues and also results in a greater manufacturing cost.
Additionally, a discrete inductor typically has a fixed inductance that is not tunable or adjustable. Thus, a discrete inductor must have the specific inductance required in a particular circuit. If the value of the required inductance changes, the discrete inductor must be removed from the circuit and replaced with another discrete inductor having the new required inductance. For example, to obtain a specific resonance frequency in the development phase of a LC test circuit, the determination of exact value of the required inductance could require the removal and replacement of numerous discrete inductors before arriving at a discrete inductor with the required inductance.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a structure for integrating an inductor on a package substrate of a chip that provides an inductor with a small size and an inductance in the range of 100.0 nH to 10.0 μH. Moreover, there exists a need in the art for a structure for integrating an inductor on a package substrate of a chip that allows the value of the inductance to be tuned to meet a specific requirement. Further, there exists a need in the art for a structure for integrating an inductor on a package substrate of a chip that provides the flexibility to meeting different size requirements.
The present invention is directed to a high inductance inductor in a semiconductor package. According to one embodiment, a number of trace metal segments or conductors are patterned onto a top surface of a substrate suitable for receiving and housing a semiconductor die. In one embodiment, an insulator layer covers the trace metal segments and separates them from a high permeability core which is mounted on top of the insulator layer. The insulator layer can comprise, for example, solder mask while the high permeability core can comprise, for example, a ferrite rod.
In one embodiment, a number of bonding wires are passed over the high permeability core and make connections to respective trace metal segments under the core so as to create an inductor winding around the core. The terminals of the inductor so formed can be connected to a substrate bond pad and/or to a semiconductor die bond pad. Due to the high permeability of the core, the inductance value of the inductor so formed can be quite high while the inductor has a relatively small size. Moreover, the present invention's inductor can be fine-tuned by adjusting the number of bonding wires in the inductor winding and also by adjusting the length of the high permeability core.
The present invention is directed to a high inductance inductor in a semiconductor package. The following description contains specific information pertaining to various embodiments and implementations of the invention. One skilled in the art will recognize that the present invention may be practiced in a manner different from that specifically discussed in the present application. Moreover, some of the specific details of the invention are not discussed in order not to obscure the invention. The specific details not described in the present application are within the knowledge of a person of ordinary skills in the art.
The drawings in the present application and their accompanying detailed description are directed to merely example embodiments of the invention. To maintain brevity, other embodiments of the invention that use the principles of the present invention are not specifically described in the present application and are not specifically illustrated by the present drawings.
Structure 100 in
Structure 100 also includes inductor 108, which is situated, or "housed," on top surface 104 of substrate 106. In other embodiments, inductor 108 may be housed in a pin grid array package, a ball grid array package, a land grid array package, or on a laminate PCB. The package or laminate materials might comprise, for example, various ceramic or organic materials known in the art. Inductor 108 comprises winding 110, core 112, insulator 114, substrate bond pad 116, also referred to as a "terminal" of inductor 108 in the present application, and substrate bond pad 118, also referred to as a "terminal" of inductor 108 in the present application.
Winding 110 further comprises bonding wires, such as bonding wire 120, and trace metal segments, such as trace metal segment 122. It is also noted that a "trace metal segment," such as trace metal segment 122, is also referred to as a "conductor" in the present application. Trace metal segment 122 is fabricated on top surface 104 of substrate 106. For example, a mask can be used to pattern conductors on a copper metallization layer on top surface 104 of substrate 106. The excess copper can be etched away, resulting in a defined metal trace pattern that can include, for example, trace metal segment 122. Winding 110 is also referred to as an "inductor winding" in the present application.
In structure 100, trace metal segment 122 can comprise nickel-plated copper. Trace metal segment 122 can further comprise a layer of gold plating over the nickel-plated copper to provide a surface for wire bonding. A first end of trace metal segment 122 is connected to substrate bond pad 116, and a second end of trace metal segment 122 is connected to bonding wire 120. Similar to trace metal segment 122, substrate bond pad 116 can be fabricated on top surface 104 of substrate 106, and can comprise nickel-plated copper. Substrate bond pad 116 can also further comprise a layer of gold plating over the nickel-plated copper to provide a surface for wire bonding.
Bonding wire 120 can comprise gold or can comprise other metals such as aluminum. The diameter of bonding wire 120 can be approximately 1.0 mil to 6.0 mils. For example, in an application where inductor 108 provides filtering for a high-current voltage regulator, the diameter of bonding wire 120 can be approximately 6.0 mils. By way of further example, in an application where inductor 108 is used with a low-current micro module, the diameter of bonding wire 120 can be approximately 1.0 mil. Winding 110 will be discussed in greater detail in relation to FIG. 2.
Continuing with
The particular metallic oxide (for example, zinc, nickel, cobalt, or iron) that is used to form the ferrite rod affects the permeability of the ferrite rod, which can be, for example, approximately 40.0 to 100∅ Since the inductance of an inductor is proportional to the permeability of its core, the inductance of inductor 108 can be increased approximately 40.0 times if core 112 comprises a ferrite rod with a permeability of 40∅ Core 112 will be discussed in greater detail in relation to FIG. 2.
Continuing with
As shown in
Bonding wire 130 electrically connects substrate bond pad 118 of inductor 108, i.e. a terminal of inductor 108, to substrate bond pad 132, which "abuts" via 134. Thus, bonding wire 130 can, in one embodiment, electrically connect substrate bond pad 118 of inductor 108 to a land (not shown in
Referring now to
Now discussing
Continuing with
In the present embodiment, first ends of bonding wires 220, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, and 250, respectively, can be connected to the first ends of trace metal segments 222, 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, and 236 by bonding. Similarly, the second ends of bonding wires 220, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, and 250, respectively, can be connected to the second ends of trace metal segments 224, 226, 228, 230, 232, 234, and 236, and substrate bond pad 218 by bonding.
Bonding wires 220, 238, 240, 242, 244, 246, 248, and 250 are similar to bonding wire 120 in
Continuing with
Thus, by increasing or decreasing the number of "turns" in winding 210, the inductance of the invention's inductor 208 can be "fine tuned" to more closely match a required inductance in a particular application. For example, in the development phase of an LC resonance circuit, bonding wires can be removed or added to "fine tune" the inductance of inductor 208 to obtain a particular resonance frequency. Thus, the present invention's inductor 208 provides the flexibility to allow the number of "turns" in winding 210 to vary as required to produce an inductance in a range of approximately 1.0 nH to 100.0 μH.
As shown in
Continuing with
Core 212, as discussed above, can comprise a ferrite rod that can have a permeability of approximately 40.0 to 100∅ Also, as discussed above, core 212 can increase the inductance of inductor 208 in proportion to the increase in the value of the permeability of core 212. Therefore, inductor 208 can decrease in length and still maintain the same inductance by proportionally increasing the permeability of core 212. Moreover, in the manner described in relation to
From the above description of the invention it is manifest that various techniques can be used for implementing the concepts of the present invention without departing from its scope. Moreover, while the invention has been described with specific reference to certain embodiments, a person of ordinary skill in the art would recognize that changes can be made in form and detail without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention. For example, in one embodiment, two inductors, each one similar to inductor 208, can be mounted on a top surface of a substrate to form a transformer. In such instance, the core, i.e. the ferrite rod, of the first inductor can be mounted in close proximity to the core of the second inductor to form a transformer by coupling the magnetic fields generated by the windings of each inductor. As such, the described embodiments are to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive. It should also be understood that the invention is not limited to the particular embodiments described herein, but is capable of many rearrangements, modifications, and substitutions without departing from the scope of the invention.
Thus, a high inductance inductor in a semiconductor package has been described.
Hashemi, Hassan S., Fazelpour, Siamak, Coccioli, Roberto
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